Came across a video this morning of Bruce Mau, the well known designer and planner talking about his Center for Massive Change. Much of this is very resonant with where 21inc is going. Like the Center, we're developing a "methodology and expertise to be constantly innovative, to deal with challenges that will emerge in the future." We're focused on building a community of "entrepreneurial learners." Because change is happening so fast, people need to know how to "explore possibilities as they're evolving."
His analogy about being lost in the forest is brilliant and incredibly relevant to Atlantic Canada. I may "borrow" it.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Making Models
Our quarterly board meeting is this Saturday and it's more anticipated than usual. (Aren't board meetings always hotly anticipated??)
I've been devouring the book, Business Model Generation, over the past few weeks. Unlike most business books, this one is useful. Very. A business model is a description of how an organization creates, captures and deliver value. BMG shows how a combination of nine building blocks (eg. value proposition, key activities, customers) that all organizations have work interdependently to create, capture, and deliver value.
On Saturday we're developing the 21inc business model. We do each of the building blocks to some extent. Some better than others. But we've never put them together and see where we need to focus for future success and sustainability. There's so many benefits from doing this, including understanding where we need systems, what we should stop doing, and where we need to double down.
The picture above is from our practice session (prototyping for the design thinkers out there) with the Executive Committee this Monday.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Mission creep, or something else?
Mission creep is infamous in the not-for-profit world. It’s when an organization does a project outside its mission. Because budgets are tight and most of us run project to project, you do the project because you need money. In the process the organization dilutes who it is and weakens the brand.
But what if taking on different projects isn’t mission creep. What if instead it’s part of every organization’s evolving identity? That’s the question I’ve been playing with over the last week, particularly after a recent lunch meeting in Saint John.
Lately we’re being asked to consider and increasing amount of projects with the goals of enabling policy change. We usually say no. Our work focuses on developing the best leaders in Canada by building hard and soft skills, and knowledge of the context in which those skills are applied. Policy isn’t what we do and only tempts mission creep. That’s what I used to think.
I’m now wondering if 21inc can pursue its mission – to develop and inspire Atlantic Canada’s new and emerging leaders – with greater impact by not only using our programs to develop skills and knowledge, but also further create opportunities to exercise leadership. Our growing alumni, now at 118, have told us they’d like opportunities to influence the direction our provinces and region are taking.
The Aspen Institute in the United States does this. They’ve always been a model for us and maybe this is the road they took. Even if we eventually follow them, we still need to walk it ourselves.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
2010 Reflections
It’s not my habit to spend much time looking backwards. True to form, for the last month, since the Emerging Leaders Summit and Ideas Festival in November, 21inc’s Board of Directors and I have been thinking about 2011-2014. But unable to sleep last night because of a stupid decision to drink a late coffee, I found myself lying in bed reflecting on 2010. Some of you might be interested in this, so below are my top three highs and lows of 2010.
2010 Highs
Atlantic Programs
No question, our biggest high of 2010 was the launch and successful execution of our first regional leadership experience. It started in the fall of 2009 when discussions began with the Government of Nova Scotia about what 21inc does. There was much interest and more stakeholders were brought to the conversation. We approached several of our partners, including ACOA, Scotiabank, Colour, Emera , Stewart McKelvey, and Ernst & Young, who all saw real value in a regional approach. With each Atlantic Province committed as a partner, the Emerging Leaders Summit was launched in June. The results were excellent. Working with our alumni across the region in 2011 is going to be a blast.
The Ideas Festival was also a highlight. This was our second Festival, which happens every two years. My colleague and co-conspirator Julie Breau told me after the Festival that a part of her wanted to know if the success of the first one was luck. It wasn’t. Pamela Scott Crace of Progress Magazine said she “loved” the inaugural Festival and didn’t know how we could top that. Her answer was we did, “by a lot.” I’m most proud of the greater regional representation and increased French content of the 2010 Festival. And the limbo contest.
Partnerships
Partnerships aren’t easy and we learned that this year. I guess we always knew it, but from now on we’ll enter partnerships having earned an education from the school of hard knocks.
Board changes
We spent the summer drafting policy, creating systems and updating the board structure. We added new members and for the first time, recruited them from outside the alumni. We still need to put some specifics to the systems and add two more members, but the momentum 21inc is experiencing at the board level is very positive.
2010 21 Leaders program
Our second 21 Leaders cohort graduated in May in Bathurst. They are an inspiring group. Two companies were started, several of the Leaders found placements on prestigious boards. And NB Debates was formed out of the Community Solutions Projects.
2010 Lows
Partnerships
This is both a high and a low. The highs are the lessons learned. The lows were the pain endured while learning those lessons.
Workload
It never gets lower. Murphy must have a law about this. Hire people, gain experience, purchase fancy tools, and enter into partnerships: new work displaces the old.
Noah Augustine
Canada lost a significant leader when Noah Augustine died in a car accident this fall. Noah was a big supporter of 21inc and met with the 2009 cohort. I was cleaning out my inbox over the Christmas holidays and found an email correspondence we had just one week before he passed. His shoes will be difficult to fill.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Le marché des idées
Le concept du Marché des idées est en quelque sorte un babillard interactif, en format papier.
Vendredi soir, les participants ont eu la chance de partager sur une feuille de papier les projets qu'ils veulent réaliser et les ressources dont ils ont besoin pour les accomplir.
Partagez vos projets, et les ressources dont vous avez besoin pour les réaliser dans les commentaires.
-Mélissa Cormier, bénévole 21inc.
WestJet Ideas Festival Contest
Win 2 tickets to ANYWHERE WestJet flies!!All you have to do is enter 1 idea that you think can move Atlantic Canada forward.Enter your idea as a comment to this discussion. Please enter your name when you post your idea. We will draw 1 person from the top 10 ideas!We will draw for the tickets tonight at the soiree. Dont miss it!
Power to the People
Do we have a different kind of power when we exist in a network? Mark Kuznicki, founder of ChangeCamp posed this question in the Kick-Off Event of the 2010 Ideas Festival, and taking a look around the room, I'd say yes. Yes, because there is power in the in the diversity of individuals gathered here - a power of resilience. The festival has brought together people who have been making change for decades and those who have been making change for days; people who have founded numerous initiatives and people who are preparing to launch their first; people who have realized many ideas and people whose ideas are beginning to emerge in different sectors across Canada. They are all gathered here together. They are learning, mentoring, questioning, and acting. They are changing the future of this country, but more importantly, this country today. And the resilience inherent in this group means that these ideas are here to stay.
Bring on Day 2!